Mage or warlock?

Community General Discussion
1

Sorry, another one of these threads! But I’m torn. I love ranged DPS and haven’t played much of these two classes, except for casual play. I won’t be mythic raiding or anything, so I predict I can’t go wrong with what I plan to do…

Mage Pros:

  • Some fun “run away” utility - blink, frost nova, invisibility
  • Teleports making travel easy
  • Satisfying graphics
  • Haven’t done the Legion class hall experience yet, so I need to get my mount
  • Classic caster appearance which will fit my VE well
  • Proc based class at times, which I do find entertaining
  • Something about being without a pet and it just being you is fun in terms of the fantasy to me (but not a dealbreaker by any means)

Mage Cons

  • No pet to tank for you - womp
  • Squishier
  • Sometimes more cast-time based than warlock
  • Simpler than warlock (?)
  • Fantasy may be a little less exciting than warlock, but only a little (subjective)

Warlock Pros

  • Tanky, great at soloing
  • Pet class
  • Fun visuals as well with good graphics
  • Fun mogs
  • Each spec seems different as opposed to mage specs being mainly nuke-y
  • Utility in different ways than mage
  • Demo got a nice re-do and seems to have multiple buttons to press, perhaps

Warlock Cons

  • Afflic seems less engaging than mage specs
  • Less mobile than mage in a general sense
  • Raid versus mythic spec being different…? Not sure if this is true
  • Viability in M+ ? (I won’t be doing high end keys by any means)

Truly torn! Would love to hear from people who similarly struggled. :slight_smile: I’ve played trials of both but am curious how essences and azerite traits make things better, if they do at all. I remember what it felt like to play Balance druid in Legion without the artifact - I feel like it may be similarly with my brief trials of the two classes.

What do you think?

2

Mage is the most neglected class in WoW and warlock is better in every way. Mage blink is useless because it’s so short and any tiny pixel can interrupt it. Mage is also slow as hell, while warlock has burning rush. You can solo elites with warlock that you can’t even dream about with mage, unless you’re grossly overgeared. Destruction warlock is the most fun for me and basically feels like a mage.

As far as raiding, I don’t know since I only mostly do random BGs.

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3

Warrior :+1:

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4

We don’t need anymore bad mages in wow … go lock plz

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We need less jerks as mages. OP needs to go mage

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6

You try being asked for ports all the time !!!
It’s not easy

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7

Mage > lock any day of the week

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8

Locks are always welcomed in raids and old raids. Our summon portals are very popular.

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9

Mage starts out as more fun than Warlock because of how fun arcane is.

Warlock feels more fun in the long haul.

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10

Warlock for solo, mage for groups it’s really that simple. Mages do buku dps and easily outshine warlocks while warlocks can often solo group content mages would struggle with.

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11

Thanks for the defense, Ghorum :stuck_out_tongue:

And thanks all so far. I’m down with the lock > mage for the solo angle… that makes sense. In terms of gameplay though, which is more fun mechanically or is it fairly equal?

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HAH! No. Most certainly not. Mages pretty much sponge up all the best caster traits every single expansion and the other casters generally get scraps and dumb reworks. Shaman are the most neglected class by far.

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13

Mages have more ability to defend themselves in PvP with the potential for slows, blinks (is invis still a thing?) sheilds, maybe more. Warlocks are more glass than cannon by comparison.

All 3 specs are designed around being able to stand next to an enemy and freecast, which is a laughable concept in PvP. Mages definitely have an easier time with that.

14

I can’t speak for higher level Warlocks, I don’t have one above level 65, but, I can tell you, my level 120 frost mage is my least squishy class. Between the shielding and the Azurite powers, I am pretty sure my only deaths can come from mega bosses and falling, but forgetting to use feather fall. I’ve been using one on PTR as well, I’ve had no problems with it either.

I pull 6-7 of the 120 mobs, not a problem, I do use the water elemental pet, but even if it goes down, my spells alone drop most things before they get to me. I tend to solo a lot, I’ve had no problems on a mage.

Why don’t you test them both on a trial run and see which one feels better for you to play?

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15

For me, my main attraction to warlocks was more the lore behind them than anything else (I’ve got a thing for dark sorcerers, for some reason), but I find I play this one more than I do the mage(s) I have. However…

This is pretty much the best thing to suggest. Obviously those of us who play one, the other, or both are going to have a bias for one or the other (or perhaps both), but ultimately, it’s your character slot(s), heh.

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16

I love my Goblin mage. It’s my second-most played character. I do have to make one correction: if you go Frost and don’t pick the talent to absorb your frost elemental, it does have a pet spec.

For getting around Azeroth to farm stuff, mages are second to none.

However, you can get a mage vibe from playing Destruction lock. There are lots of fires and explosions and hard casts. Similar to Frost Mage Elemental, your imp is just kind of there.

One thing that bugs me about lock mechanics are the soul shards. As a destruction lock, if you run out of shards, you’re basically spamming 1 or 2 spells trying to build them up again.

All in all, you really can’t go wrong with either.

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This is above and beyond out of touch not only with these classes but with reality itself

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Thanks for the information so far… it’s nuggets like “my frost mage is my least squishy class” that helps see what things are like at 120. :slight_smile:

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19

Another pro to mage that is underrated is teleport. It’s so useful in getting to diverse locations.

Frost mage is a great solo experience and fire is very mobile. I think arcane needs work because I don’t find it mobile or fun, but it can deal great damage in the right hands.

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The pet tank thing only matters when you’re leveling and before you get to the point of being geared like I am. The Blueberry used to be a beast when it comes to aggro but that’s changed over the decades. Once I start laying into a mob full bore my Blueberry gets more than a little pissed at me. After two dots he just throws his buff arms up like " Really?! ". I plan on giving mages a try once Vulpera hit live.

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